Arable agriculture in the UK faces four big challenges: raising crop yields; sustainable production, to minimise negative and maximise positive environmental impacts; maintaining weed, pest and disease control and extreme weather that is making production conditions ever more uncertain. This seminar will examine agronomic factors that have contributed to stagnating yields of our main arable crops over the last two decades, the influence of economic, policy and structural changes on arable farms and the scope to accelerate improvement in yield potential through crop genetics.

Speaker:

Stuart Knight, NIAB

Biography:

Stuart Knight is Director of Crops and Agronomy at NIAB. He joined in 2009 when The Arable Group (TAG) became part of NIAB, having worked in a number of operational, research and technical roles. With over 20 years of experience as a research agronomist, his current responsibilities include NIAB’s field crops / agronomy research & knowledge transfer, and regional trials delivery. Stuart’s research interests cover most aspects of combinable crop husbandry, in particular crop nutrient management and soil nutrient supply, evaluation of new crop protection chemicals and their integration into existing production systems, cereal fungal disease monitoring and control, identifying and managing crop variation and the role of decision support systems within crop production. Stuart graduated with a degree in Agriculture from Wye College (London University), and spent 6 years at Newcastle University working as Technical Manager for the North of England Arable Centre before joining ARC (which became TAG) in 1997. Stuart has a strong interest in practical farming, and his family farm in east Kent.

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